My Enlightening Experience by Patrick

My Enlightening Experience by Patrick - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

Ten different colleges, five different states, countless hours of listening to boring seminars on why I should attend their school instead of others. As I went from school to school in search of the one that I would eventually call home for the next four years, I began to notice something interesting. No matter how different each of the universities were, they all made a valiant effort to stress the importance of their study abroad programs. At the time I didn’t understand why this was so important. I was a junior in high school that had barely left the suburbs much less traveled the world. My thought process went through a dramatic change the following summer when I made the decision to volunteer on a mission trip to Monterrey, Mexico in order to serve at several orphanages there.

I accompanied thirty other students on this trip of a lifetime. Although we had our differences, we all had one thing in common: the willingness to spread hope to children who have nothing. While on this week long journey I fell in love with the diverse culture found abroad. The food, the customs, the language; seeing new ways of life fascinated me. Most of all it made me realize that the opportunity to travel the world and have these amazing experiences should not be taken for granted. Even with this being said, I feel as though it would be inconsiderate to force every student to step that far out of their comfort zones by requiring them to travel to a foreign country. I feel as though it should be presented as a wonderful experience to encounter new ideas, new people, and new cultures. Just because I don’t think study abroad should be required doesn’t mean that I’m not in favor of it. I wholeheartedly believe that every student should take advantage of study abroad programs.